1IN3 submission to the Federal Inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence
The One in Three Campaign's submission to the Federal Inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence (#57) has been published on the inquiry's website.
You can download a PDF copy from here.
The submission makes the following points:
Violence against men is both more prevalent and has greater burden of disease impacts than does violence against women. While men make up a minority of persons who experience family, domestic and sexual violence, they make up a significant proportion – between one in five and almost half.
Children and young people are most likely to report witnessing two-way physical couple violence (14%) between their parents (which is the most damaging), followed by male-to-female (9%) and female-to-male violence (8%).
Women are a significant family violence risk to children.
The strongest predictor of a woman being a victim of intimate partner violence is her perpetration of intimate partner violence.
The evidence for gender inequality being a contributor to the prevalence of domestic violence is weak and highly contested. Rather than focusing upon gender inequality, resources would be better put towards addressing other established risk factors.
While family violence legislation is gender neutral, discrimination against men exists in policy and service provision.
Male victims of family violence face many barriers to disclosing their experience of abuse. It is not the case that they fail to disclose because the violence experienced is minor or trivial.
Government policy and training materials teach members of the judiciary and service providers that heterosexual men who present as victims of intimate partner violence are probably perpetrators. This discrimination not only fails to support male victims, but increases the risk of them experiencing further violence and abuse.
In order to meet the needs of male victims of family violence, government-funded public awareness campaigns must be conducted alongside the establishment of publicly funded services for male victims (either integrated with existing services or gender-specific). Training should also be provided to workers in the health and welfare fields to enable them to respond effectively to male victims.
The most severe type of domestic abuse – ‘coercive control’ – is used by both male and female perpetrators. The most common domestic abuse – ‘couple violence’ – is by no means minor or trivial.
Since 1996, the ABS Personal Safety Survey has used a sample size of male respondents between 0% and 28% of the female sample size. This has led to the publication of insufficiently accurate data about male victims of family, domestic and sexual violence.
Health services across Australia screen all adult women for domestic violence but no screening is carried out for men.
Perpetrator programs based (loosely) on the Duluth Model of male patriarchal power and control are largely ineffective at preventing future violence, and may even lead to the escalation of violence for some men who take part. Instead we would recommend the trialling of evidence-based perpetrator programs for both sexes based on other models, such as a solutions-focused approach.
The experiences of male victims of family, domestic and sexual violence from diverse population sub-groups must be considered when tailoring appropriate services and support for these groups.
Men, as well as women, are affected by changes brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and must be included in any additional support provided in efforts to combat increases in family and domestic violence.
Previously parliamentary reviews have recommended that better services and support be established for male victims of family and domestic violence. Only minor improvements have been implemented to date, while most recommendations are yet to be put into practice.